That’s exactly what we find ourselves facing when we delve into the writings of Lysimachus, a figure who, according to Josephus in his work Against Apion, spun a tale so incredibly hateful about the Jewish people that it practically screams its own falsehood.

Now, remember, Josephus wrote Against Apion specifically to defend the Jewish people against such slanders, so we’re getting this story secondhand, through his rebuttal. But what a story it is!

Lysimachus, this character assassin, claims that the Jews were once a mass of leprous and scabby people living in Egypt during the reign of King Bocchoris. Can you imagine? He says they were so numerous and diseased that they caused a famine. To solve this, Bocchoris supposedly consulted the oracle of [Jupiter] Hammon (that's Zeus-Ammon, the syncretic Greco-Egyptian deity). The oracle, according to Lysimachus, demanded that Egypt be purged of these "impure" people. The leprous ones? Drowned in lead-lined boxes in the sea. The rest? Abandoned in the desert to die.

It gets worse, believe it or not.

These abandoned, supposedly diseased people, according to Lysimachus, didn't just roll over and die. Oh no. They banded together. And here's where the real kicker comes in: Moses appears. The Moses. But not the law-giving, God-fearing leader we know from the Torah. This Moses, as portrayed by Lysimachus, is an evil instigator. He urges them to travel together, showing kindness to no one, always advising others to do the worst, and, get this, to overturn every temple and altar they encounter.

Seriously?

So, this band of supposed lepers, led by an evil Moses, does exactly that. They rampage through the desert, pillaging and burning temples until they arrive in a land they call Judea. They build a city, initially naming it Hierosyla, meaning "robbery of temples," a delightful little detail, don't you think? Eventually, ashamed of the name (according to Lysimachus, anyway), they change it to Hierosolyma – Jerusalem – and call themselves Hierosolymites.

Wow. Just… wow.

Josephus, of course, tears this narrative to shreds. He points out the obvious inconsistencies and the blatant anti-Jewish sentiment fueling the entire story. But it’s important to remember these kinds of narratives existed. They circulated, and they poisoned the well of public opinion.

What’s truly striking is the sheer audacity of Lysimachus’s fabrication. The blatant inversion of Jewish values – kindness, justice, and monotheism – into their opposites. It serves as a stark reminder of how easily narratives can be twisted and weaponized to demonize entire groups of people. And how important it is to be critical of the stories we hear, especially those that seem too good (or in this case, too awful) to be true.